Courtesy of Judith Gregg Librarian Catherine Arbogast heads out with a personalized book delivery from the Los Altos main library.

Love of learning and curiosity about the world sometimes grow only more urgent as a person spends more and more time at home, limited by age, health condition, or both. Librarians head out from the Los Altos main l...

Already known as an innovator in the tech field, Google Inc. is now moving in on the art world.

The Mountain View-based company July 11 launched the “Paint the Town” contest, a “moving art experiment” that invites California residents over the age of 13 to submit physical or digital artwork that would decorate the door...

Traci Newell/Town Crier The six-week, tuition-free Stretch to Kindergarten program, hosted at Bullis Charter School, serves children who have not attended preschool. A teacher leads children in singing about the parts of a butterfly, above.

courtesy of Rishi Bommannan Rishi Bommannan cycled from Bates College in Maine to his home in Los Altos Hills, taking several selfies along the way. He also raised nearly $13,000 for the Livestrong Foundation, which supports cancer patients.

The Town Crier’s recent article on coyotes venturing down from the foothills in search of sustenance referenced the organization Project Coyote (“Recent coyote attacks keep residents on edge,” July 1). Do not waste your time contac...

Photos by Alicia Castro/Town Crier Local residents participate in an exercise class at the Grant Park Senior Center, above. Betsy Reeves, below left with Gail Enenstein, lobbied for senior programming in south Los Altos.

Grace Wilson Franks, our beloved mother and grandmother, left us peacefully on July 16, 2015 just a few weeks short of her 92nd birthday. She was born to Ross and Florence (Cruzan) Wilson in rural Tulare, California on Septem...

Most of us have a place inside our hearts and minds that occasionally causes us trouble. For some, it is sadness, depression or despair. For others, it may be fear, anger, resentment or myriad other emotional “dark places” that at times seem to hij...

Los Altos Police arrested a Loyola School crossing guard last week for allegedly stealing three laptops from a classroom.

Police arrested San Jose resident Nathaniel Burpee, 24, Thursday for burglary, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest – he apparently didn’t go willingly. Spotted by police at a bus stop on El Camino Real, Burpee reportedly led police on a brief foot chase. Burpee was on parole at the time of his arrest and was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail.

Fred Bridgewater, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections’ Regional Parole Division, told the Town Crier that Burpee was on parole for burglary at the time of his arrest. Bridgewater did not provide any additional details on Burpee’s previous burglary arrest.

According to Los Altos Police Sgt. Cameron Shearer, last week’s chain of events leading to Burpee’s arrest began when a Loyola teacher found him in a classroom earlier in the day. When questioned about his presence in the classroom, Burpee allegedly told the teacher that he was meeting a school administrator there. A short time later, Shearer said, the teacher discovered three laptops missing from the classroom and contacted police at approximately 9 a.m.

After interviewing the teacher at the scene, investigators contacted Burpee’s supervisor, who told police that Burpee made contact and wanted to return some items he took from the school – albeit without police involvement. Police, in turn, issued a be-on-the-lookout bulletin for Burpee to officers in the field and neighboring agencies.

Less than two hours after school officials contacted authorities, a Los Altos Police officer spotted Burpee at the bus stop in front of Whole Foods Market on El Camino Real, Shearer said. Upon spotting police – including those from Mountain View assisting at the scene – Burpee took off on foot, according to Shearer. He added that officers chased the suspect through a construction site on Sherwood Avenue before apprehending him, but not before “a brief struggle.”

Background checks

In May, the Los Altos City Council approved a new two-year contract agreement with All City Management Services (ACMS), the agency responsible for vetting and supplying crossing guards to the city since 2007. The city and the Los Altos School District jointly fund the program at a shared cost of approximately $120,000 per year.

According to a staff report on the contract agreement, services that ACMS provides to the city include “recruitment, background clearance, hiring, training, payroll, supervision and program management.”

A call to ACMS seeking comment on Burpee’s arrest was not returned before the Town Crier’s press deadline.

Burpee appears to be related to Todd David Burpee, who in 2009 was convicted of kidnapping and assaulting a Gunn High School student two years earlier. A 2006 Palo Alto Weekly article on Todd Burpee referenced his younger brother, Nate Burpee; both men graduated from Palo Alto high schools.

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